the republicans. what to do about a gang of raccoons that attacked a woman in the east bay. a new course for a cruise ship stranded at sea. the news is next. we'll just have to say we're only going to do basketball this season or baseball this season. >> child athletes sporting adult injuries. the one thing helping kids play safer, smarter and longer. >> if i can have less exposure, that's what i want. churches, steep he wiles an

bell towers. some people pray that their church makes money and it never leaves the ground. it chased me down the street. >> what happened left her with scars. why raccoons are getting more aggressive in an east bay park and the warning in effect. >> the raccoon rampage. the victim? an east bay woman. the attack happened while the victim was walking her dog in a popular park on central avenue toward a street and alameda. cheryl is there right now. apparently this isn't the first time someone has been attacked by raccoons there. >> it isn't the first time. this park is very beautiful and popular, but right now it has a raccoon problem. at night they can be anywhere, sometimes hiding in the trees. one woman tells me tonight that

they can be very vicious. >> i start running, and then four other raccoons dropped out of these trees and started chasing me down the street. >> reporter: an attack rachel campos diviano won't forget. she may be laughing now, but late saturday night when she was watching her dog doogie in central park, she was terrified. >> i was running down this street screaming help, help, help. i tripped and fell down. >> reporter: while her fearless dog is fighting off four raccoons, a fifth one, she says, bit her leg, breaking the skin. >> they were growling and snarlg a -- snarling and making all sortsz of incredible raccoon noises. >> according to animal control, this is the ninth attack this year. raccoons which look similar to the one here have become

aggressive as they look for food in garbage cans and run out of places to live. >> there are no natural predators for these raccoons, so i don't know what they can do. i hope they can do something, because it's a little scary. >> i'm going to start carrying pepper spray with me because it's the only thing i can think of to help protect the both of us. >> reporter: no word yet on what vector control plans to do about the rcoon problem. reporting live in alameda, i'm cheryl hurd, nbc bay area news. >> they're not afraid of humans, that's for sure. 90% of santa clara employees may soon be getting their walking papers. they plan to vote tonight whether to lay off 82 city employees if the city's unions don't agree to concessions. they're options? either a 5% pay cut or 12 furlough days next year and agree to forgo a pay raise in december. if not, a slip will go out

effective january 8. churches, too, are looking for ways to balance their books when congregations are tightening rather than tithing. one mountain view church came up for an idea of a tower of power. parents at a nearby school say the plan to make money off cell phone use could put their kids at risk. we're at mountain view to tell us about the conflict. >> reporter: some parents are really upset about this, so upset they're threatening to pull their children out of the nearby preschool if the church gets the go-ahead to install a cell phone tower on the roof of this fellowship hall right here. clear cell wire will pay the church $78 a month to rent the space off this tower. the church says this is not about the money but about improving cell phone service in the area. just 200 feet from where the first presbyterian church is planning on installing a cell phone tower on a fellowship roof is a little preschool where

about 70 children are every day. quan's daughters go to the preschool. she's not happy about it. >> the playground gets pretty heavily used on a daily basis. >> reporter: they say the tower looks like a chimney with a s steeple on top. >> we feel this is very safe, the information we have received, the engineer reports we have received that this is a positive thing. >> it's a new technology that's coming. >> reporter: the company that is looking to ren the space on the roof is trying to assure friends and neighbors about the radiation coming off the church will be much less than a microwave oven or cordless phone. but many parents say they're not convinced. >> with eight hours of exposure

of two to five-year-olds within a couple hundred feet, it's dicey. i wouldn't want it. >> reporter: but pastor boyer says he will be spending the most time on this campus, and would he put himself at risk? >> we wouldn't put a three-year-old or a 103-year-old at risk. >> there is a petition and so far 55 people have signed it. we'll find out at 4:30 in the afternoon tomorrow whether they have approved this tower. a week after the election, it looks like one local congressional race is going to the democrats. the people living in the bay area of the 11th congressional district will soon know who will represent them in washington. tonight, gerald mcinerney has

widen to 2,269 votes. there is speculation that state senator leland yee is exploring the possibility of san francisco mayor. yee plans to make an official announcement tomorrow morning at san francisco city hall. current san francisco mayor gavin newsom leaves for sacramento in january when he becomes california's new lieutenant governor. independent of next year's race for the mayor office is a jockeying for city officials to fill out the term until the election for the next four-year term. they are expected to consider whether to pay up to co $400,000 to deal with the idea of building a bridge to the san mateo bridge. last year an $8 billion price tag put that plan on the back burner. if approved, the study itself

would likely take about two years. oakland police are investigating the shooting death of a popular barber gunned down by officers last night. police were called to the 5800 block of ban kroft and east oakland to investigate a domestic violence call. the shooting victim, derrick jones, apparently took off on foot. police then say they saw him reach for his waistband. they yelled at him to put his hands up, and when he didn't, they opened fire. >> during the foot chase, the suspect was seen grabbing at his waistband. this occurred several times. this is a move obviously of someone consistent with reaching for a weapon, possibly arming himself. >> jones was a barber for 20 years. many of his clients came to his parents' home to pay their respects. >> my brother was taken too soon. he was shot several times and justice needs to be served.

>> are you asking for a riot in oakland? are you -- what are you doing to the black community, okay? >> the jones family met with civil rights attorney john burris who tells nbc bay area that he is looking into the matter. he's the attorney who represents os gar grant's family. good evening. i'm chief meteorologist jeff paneri. showers rolled in quickly. we're tracking the system as it moves across california. also a cool day out there. still holding onto the low 50s in the north bay to the south bay. we'll let you know when it's clearing out and for how long in a few minutes. i want to get a ring without having to take it from somebody. >> off base but on target, buddy sanchez meets george lopez. you'll hear what both are saying about the world series win by the san francisco giants. >> i limped a little so we didn't know what was happening.e

epee wee sports. hear what to do to keep your little athlete safe.

that cruise ship that's been adrift off the coast of mexico is on the move tonight. tug boats are pulling it to san diego now, and it won't be there until thursday night. that means two more nights without electricity or water. our nbc station in los angeles is telling us where the operation stands now. robert? >> reporter: tom, where the operation stands now, at least it's moving. they have one tug leading the way. another tug will soon be joining this mission, and if all goes according to plan, they will hit san diego, as you said, on thursday night. but if it goes slowly, they will revert back to the original destination point of encinata. also remember this knocked out

the refrigeration unit, so there's only enough food through today. so it's not just getting the ship to shore, it's getting supplies to sea. >> worried about the ship the splendor? watch closely. crowds are on the deck as they wait to see what happens. weintraub was on there as it suddenly turned into a military provision. he watched as they got closer. >> they were out. it's a sunny day, a pretty day, in the low 60s. we can look inside with binoculars. there was nobody inside. it was clear the air-conditioning was out. >> no air-conditioning, no hot water, but there is bottled water and food, canned crabmeat and cans of spam air lifted. >> the passengers are being monitored closely.

they're in good care. >> reporter: but without phone service to communicate with those back on land. >> their first cruise, first time away from their kids and family, and they wanted to go. >> reporter: once docked to the $50 million splendor won't be going anywhere any time soon. here's the e-mail cancelling this sunday's departure. >> it would take ice. they are trying to make guests as comfortable as possible, that's for sure. >> they are hoping passengers enjoy the experience. >> they are getting a free cruise, plus the full value of another cruise. what's not to like? >> carnival is not believing this is a pleasure cruise and they're thanking passengers for their patience, adding this is a

trying time for them. there are other activities on board, especially for children, and although they are dining on spam, at least the toilets are flushing once again. from long beach, i'm robert kosovik, bay area news. it's airbus 380 flights because of the problems with the plane's engines. that move comes after an engine on a quantus flight exploded. the plane should be back flying in just days. singapore flies in and out of sso but uses the 777 on that flight. now more doctors are seeing more kids with adult injuries. nbc's bay area vicki nguyen is here and tells how parents with k prevent those injuries. >> no parent wants to see their

kids sidelined, but it's happening. doctors are seeing patients as young as seven years old. it turns out a few simple exercises can help keep your young athlete in the game. at a sports center for young athletes -- >> back up, nice and slow. >> -- the clientele is getting younger. >> the age we see patients seems to be going down and down and down every year. we're now seeing seven-year-olds with acl tears, which was something unheard of even ten years ago. >> reporter: dr. james policy specializes in pediatric orthopedic surgery. he says a few years of year-round sports and especially at a young age makes kids more prone to injury. abraham barnes has a classic overuse injury: apothicites.

he's eight. >> after every game, i started to limp a little, so we didn't know what was happening. >> it's an inflammation of the growth plate in his heel. >> yeah, it's associated with running, skipping, jumping, hopping, anything any kid in sports would do. >> angela says even before the injury, she tried to keep her son from playing too hard, but admits it's a struggle. >> we have to say we're only doing basketball this season or baseball this season. >> whether it's cheerleading or football, physical fitness experts say combine the sport with another activity. >> you don't necessarily need to play a ton more soccer, you need to cross-train it with something like swimming to work out other

muscle groups. rest at least one day a week and limit high-intensity workouts to an hour a day. don't forget, sports should be fun. >> when kids are having fun, they want to play sports. when they stop having fun, i think that's when they're more likely to be injured. >> take it from be a abe on his to recovery. >> if you want your injury to get better, you have to take it easy and do your stretches. >> now playing smartder so he cn play longer. for more tips on how to prevent injuries and tips on warm-up routines or workouts, go to nbcbayarea.com under injury. >> that's good advice for older kids as well. what's the weather? >> we've got some great weather to be outside the next couple of days. yes, it's going to be improving after a little bit of a hiccup

throughout this week. we had temperatures in the low to mid-60s, cool for everyone in our coastal to inland spots. then, of course, we had those showers that kicked into the back of today after all that sunshine we had today. at least you're able to get outside and enjoy it. those showers came right at dinnertime for a lot of us. we're finding a slight shower here, but you can see it's sporadic like it has been all night. a little activity just outside richmond as well. but fairly dry. a lot of this activity has pushed to the south. the east bay cleared, dublin, livermore, alamo. we don't really expect much more of anything as we head out tonight. a few showers for you in loss gatos and san jose. not nearly as cold as it was this time last night. that's because a few showers moved in and capped off that overheating we had today. tomorrow, clearing in the forecast, and yes, we're going

to get into this nice stride as we head into our seven-day forecast. in fact, the best seven days we've seen. i would say it's looking pretty good. high pressure is going to move in and help it look cool and clear. and also for thursday's forecast, keeping it dry. you can see here there's scattered showers we found there on the radar. those are going to be all entirely gone as we head throughout the morning commute for tomorrow. it looks like smooth sailing as you head off for your wednesday morning. we're looking at 48 in san jose and also 47 in los gatos. let's get a look at wednesday's numbers. a little bit warmer, a lot morrison shine throughout the entire day. not forecasting any showers for tomorrow. 62 in dublin, of63 in livermore upper aut50s in san francisco.

the ice rink at union square opens up tomorrow. should be an adventure if they put me on ice skates. that seven-day forecast hasn't looked this good in a long time. i think most of you will agree. thursday, friday, saturday, sunday, monday and finally tuesday a dry weekend coming our way. >> look at this. it will look better in april, won't it? >> it will. >> it will look better next week, too. >> thanks, jeff. when the holidays roll around, nnumtif on some women's wish list is about to disappear.

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maybe you should hang onto that halloween candy. there are rumblings that, yes, we could be headed to a chocolate shortage. two problems have combined to raise concerns about that sweet supply. first, increased consumer demand for chocolate. second, unrest in africa and the ivory coast, the biggest cocoa producers. cocoa is near a three-year high, but don't worry yet about skyrocketing prices. they said they've already socked in those supply issues. >> i notice lisa used to have a lot of chocolate on her desk. >> it's all here. >> we've had a shortage on that for months now. >> exactly. >> that has something to do with that, too. this means we have to move on. the sharks. the shark season is here. we've been so consumed about the

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good evening. for the past couple of weeks, a lot of sharks players were hanging out at at&t park rooting for the giants. the sharks now focusing on their own job. the anaheim ducks were in town. he graduated from princeton. sharks and ducks pick it up. mitchell one of the rising stars. bam, gets it in right there. sharks take a quick 1-0 lead. joe thornton serving the final game of his two-game succespens for an illegal check. game tied to two, so we go to overtime. the sharks had their chances but the ducks get the win. lubernire manovsky.

the ducks win 3-2 in overtime. we think the x-rays revealing it's just a back sprain and nothing more than that. after a nasty fall in toronto, ellis rejoined the warriors in new york where they'll play the in this case knickerbockers tomorrow. one of the biggest men in baseball history has died. his assault charges prompted the nba to limit the basketball season. he died naturally today of heart failure in las vegas. quintin dailey was 49. amidst the phds and road scholars, would you believe

stanford has one of the best football teams in the country? stanford has a chance of getting into the rose bowl. four words for you. ready? jim harbaugh andrew luck. the head coach and quarterback. luck probably the number one overall pick for the draft next year, but today on campus, we just focused on the next opponent. >> no, there's been no talk about ball games or any opponent playing the sun devils of arizona state. >> arizona state is a good team, and we can't let them come up and beat us. that's something we're trying not to let happen. >> yes, fear the beard. nice call. stanford at alcu on saturday. finally tonight, get ready for freddy and george.

>> your heart is in los angeles and the championship in san francisco. congratulations, freddy. [ applause ] >> i grhe grew up in burbank, b here he is hanging out on the george lopez show tonight. they did a shot of jamison's whiskey. it was a product placement. we will now be doing that as well here. >> we just did. >> we just did. >> he took at you were talking. >> we'll be right back.

before we go, one last look at our top stories. five raccoons attacked a woman, biting her in the leg as she walked her small dog in washington park in alameda. this is the ninth attack this year. city hall sources tell nbc bay area that lee will announce tomorrow that esshe is explorin run for san franccois mayor. >> announcer: it's "the tonight show with jay leno," featuring rickey minor and "the tonight show" band.